Synths

I can't seem to get a good sounding synth, and dunno what I should use in particular to make some good ones. I know it's dependent on the track and style, but even still in general, how do you make decent synths?

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check some presets on your synths mate, find one that you like, make a decent line with it. in the mean time, once you got a decent sound down, save it, open it on another instance of the synth, and start playing around with absolutely every single knob, slider, button, etc, and try to understand how they affect the sound. eventually, you will be able to just think of a sound, and recreate it straight away.

This is a very "wide"question, with thousands of possible answers. I'd suggest simply spending a few days playing with a synth. My personal taste for synth's is a little different from most around here though. I like to use the Sytrus which is built into FL, I also like Rob Papens Predator, Blue and Albino. I occassionally use Z3ta+ and Absynth too. Just spend a few days exploring one of your synths, load up a preset, turn the filter cutoff diall, attack dial, res dial, release, sustain etc etc. Look at various osc waves and how they sound together etc. Once you get the idea of what does what, you'll be able to use 90% of all other synths out there, cos they are all based around the same algorythms.

if you understand simple synthesis then look for tutorials on youtube how to make different sounds , even if you don't want to use that sound just find it and make it.
it doesn't matter what program their using because you still understand the concept

I can't seem to get a good sounding synth, and dunno what I should use in particular to make some good ones. I know it's dependent on the track and style, but even still in general, how do you make decent synths?

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Give an example of what you mean by a 'decent' synth. It only sounds decent if you think it does, and get a second opinion if you're still unsure. Experiment with things like LFO automation and just explore the synths so you understand every nuance of them and what gives certain effects, just play around man because at the end of the day you've got to rely on your own ears. I understand that you could well be new to production but there's alot of information on these boards and it's all trial and error. I also don't think people are willing to give their secrets away so cheaply because that's what gives producers their stamp of individuality and alot of people in this scene seem to be forever chasing sounds and noises and trying to create them, and by the time they've learned how, something new comes along! So my advice is to try to create something fresh. A big technique used to do this is called 'resampling' where you basically get a synth looped and bounce it down as a loop (set up your bar locators), then reimport it into your session, using the same synth as before (or another one) make some changes within the synth using the same initial MIDI information for the first bounce and just keep bouncing down and reimporting the audio into the session. You can do this an unlimited amount of times and seems to be the main way people are making original sounds and noises, the technique can be used to create anything from a lush washes of noise or devastatingly psychosis inducing basslines. You can do it with pads, basses, drums, ANYTHING. Hope this helps...

if you understand simple synthesis then look for tutorials on youtube how to make different sounds , even if you don't want to use that sound just find it and make it.
it doesn't matter what program their using because you still understand the concept

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This. There are plenty of good free ones out on the net too, they may not be the same level of complexity as the ones you have to pay for but you can still get a good range of sounds out of them.

in the past few months i havent produced actual songs/tracks, ive realy just been getting good at sound synthesis. And now, when i hear a sound in a song or on tv, i know exactly how they made it. All that sitting around playing with synths really pays off in the long run. Now i never have a hard time making basses, reeses, pads and leads, i have my synth set up in 10 minutes or less. (no presets)

I also don't think people are willing to give their secrets away so cheaply...

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two tips i will give is...

1) Use at-least two oscillators, three or more makes the best results. In some synths you can send the same oscillator though twice so you end up with the sound of 6. (sawtooth waves work nice for reese and leads)

2)Go to www.boyinaband.com and watch his Reason 4 tutorials, he covers allot in a few minutes.

in the past few months i havent produced actual songs/tracks, ive realy just been getting good at sound synthesis. And now, when i hear a sound in a song or on tv, i know exactly how they made it. All that sitting around playing with synths really pays off in the long run. Now i never have a hard time making basses, reeses, pads and leads, i have my synth set up in 10 minutes or less. (no presets)

Just remember to have fun with it! and don't get mad at it!

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I sit around making sounds too. I vaguely know what I'm doing, but it's fun to make noises neat noises, save 'em and put them in a track later on.

didn't bother reading anyone elses reply so i might be telling you something some one else already has, but i would find a nice sample, eq it to the best frequency for the track i'm working on and then start fucking with it... chorus, reverb and a likkle touch of distrortion, in that order. i'm not one for re-sampling so i generally spend a lot of time making that sound good along side the mid range of my bassline